A major goal for regenerative medicine is to facilitate human tissue replacement through transplantation of stem cells that can be harvested from readily accessible tissues. For example, orthotopic liver transplantation is the only effective treatment for end-stage liver disease or severe liver injury, but its utility is severely limited by the lack of donor liver tissue and by the requirement for lifelong immunosuppression.
A large number of adipocyte-derived stem cells (ASCs) can be easily obtained using a commonly performed procedure, liposuction. Additionally, methods for inducing ASC differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells (iHeps) have been developed. Liver regeneration via transplantation of iHeps (e.g., autologous iHeps) is a highly attractive possibility for regenerative medicine. By this method, ASC obtained by liposuction are induced to differentiate into iHeps in vitro, and then iHeps are transplanted into the donor's liver. The abundance and accessibility of adipose tissue ensures that there is a source of readily available ASCs. Moreover, liver regeneration using autologous iHeps would not require immunosuppression.
However, since a patient can die rapidly after acute liver failure (e.g., caused by acetaminophen toxicity), the prolonged culture period associated with the currently known method to produce iHeps from ASCs severely limits the clinical utility for producing iHeps. Furthermore, the known method to produce iHeps from ASCs is also characterized by low efficiency and low yield.
The production of hepatocyte-like cells from adipocyte-derived stem cells for use in therapy and/or research will benefit from reduced cost, reduced culture time, increased efficiency, and increased yield.
Publications
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